Suite of Miniature
Dances is drawn from the incidental music for a ballroom scene in
Shakespeares Alls Well That Ends Well. The premiere
performance, held during the inaugural season of the world-renowned Stratford
Festival (in Stratford, Ontario) in 1953, was directed by Tyrone Guthrie
and starred Alec Guiness and Irene Worth.

That production was
set in the late 19th century rather than in the more conventional Elizabethan
period, providing more scope for the musical style. A Shakespearean production
always generates a dilemma for the composer: how to communicate to a contemporary
audience an aural sense of another era, sometimes one for which no musical
materials or aural impressions exist.

The scene (Act II,
scene iii) was played as a series of short dances, allowing the music
to reflect a progression of changes of mood and action. Although the 1953
production used a seven-player pit orchestra of winds and harp, it has
been re-orchestrated Dances for full concert band.

It was recorded by
the Howard Cable Concert Band on an LP called Music in the Round,
and is available in a recording by the University of Calgary Wind Ensemble
on a CD entitled from the mountains rising (Unical UC-CD9503)

Composers
Notes on Suite of Miniature DancesSuite of Miniature Dances is drawn from the incidental music
for a ballroom scene in Shakespeares Alls Well That Ends
Well. The première performance, held during the inaugural season
of the world-renowned Stratford Festival (in Stratford, Ontario) in 1953,
was directed by Tyrone Guthrie and starred Alec Guiness and Irene Worth.

That production was
set in the late 19th century rather than in the more conventional Elizabethan
period, providing more scope for the musical style. A Shakespearean production
always generates a dilemma for the composer: how to communicate to a contemporary
audience an aural sense of another era, sometimes one for which no musical
materials or aural impressions exist.

The scene (Act II,
scene iii) was played as a series of short dances, allowing the music
to reflect a progression of changes of mood and action. Although the 1953
production used a seven-player pit orchestra of winds and harp, I have
re-orchestrated Dances for full concert band. It was recorded by
the Howard Cable Concert Band on an LP called Music in the Round.

Instrumentation
for Suite of Miniature DancesThe quantity of parts provided in complete set is shown in the right-hand
column. Extra scores for competition purposes and additional individual
instrument parts may be ordered separately.

Notes regarding
instrumentation:
1. Either harp or piano may be used, but not both.
2. This work is also very effective when performed by a small wind ensemble;
the conductor will easily recognize which parts may be eliminated.